Cleansing pad



...v-f. a'

Feb. 9, 1960 V, R, 5PA|N 2,924,049

CLEANSING PAD Filed Feb. 6, 1957 INVENTOR.

Hfforney CLEANSING PAD Virginia R. Spain, Warren, Ohio Application February 6, 1957, Serial No. 638,492 3 Claims. (Cl. 51186) The present invention relates to a device for use in cleaning or the like, more particularly to a cleansing pad which provides working surfaces of different characteristics, and the principal object of the invention is to provide new and improved devices of the character described.

While sponges have long been used for cleaning or scrubbing, primarily because of their great absorbency, they have been unsatisfactory for certain jobs because of their soft, non-abrasive surfaces. Attempts have been made to remedy this by covering one or more faces of the sponge with a suitable abrasive; however, these constructions have had the drawback of decreasing, to a marked degree, the flexibility of the sponge and have also been rather expensive to manufacture.

The present invention provides a cleansing pad whose opposite sides provide working surfaces of different characteristics, which is economical to manufacture and which is extremely flexible. These and other advantages will readily become apparent from a study of the following description and from the drawings appended hereto.

In the drawing accompanying this specification and forming a part of this application there is shown, for purpose of illustration, an embodiment which the invention may assume, and in this drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2 is a side elevational View thereof, and

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the invention during a stage of manufacture.

Briey, the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed comprises an absorbent member herein disclosed as being a sponge to which an abrasive membrane is secured. The invention resides neither in the sponge itself nor in the abrasive membrane itself but in the unique combination of the two which provides the improved cleansing pad.

As seen in the drawings, the pad preferably comprises a generally fiat, rectangular sponge having opposed working surfaces 11 and 12. Secured to sponge 10 in a unique, highly advantageous manner is a flexible, membrane-like cl. th member'13 having opposite working surfaces 14 and 15 which, in the present embodiment, are somewhat abrasive in character. Cloth 13 may take any suitable form and may be made of suitable material providing or treated to provide the desired abrasive surfaces.

1n the present embodiment, a marginal portion 16 of cloth 13 is secured to a marginal portion 17 of sponge 10 while an opposite marginal portion 18 of cloth 13 is secured to an opposite marginal portion 19 of sponge 10. With the parts thus secured together, respective working surfaces 12, of the sponge and the cloth are exposed for use while respective working surfaces 11, 14 are in face-to-face overlying relation.

When either of the working surfaces 12, 15 become worn, the pad may be turned inside out to expose the unused working surfaces 11, 14 which were heretofore in face-to-face relation. The construction which permits ited States Patent O 2,924,049 Patented Feb. s, raso ICC the pad to be turned inside out will hereinafter be disclosed.

Any suitable means may be employed to attach cloth 13 to sponge 10; however, it is preferable that the cloth and the sponge` be stitched together, as indicated at 20, to provide joints which are strong yet which are transversely flexible to permit the pad to be turned inside out. For the same reason, it will be noted that only the marginals portions 16, 17 and 18, 19 are secured together, the remainder of the cloth and sponge preferably being free of attachment with each other.

As herein shown, the cloth is so attached to the sponge that there is a certain predetermined amount of slack in the cloth; however, it is to be understood that the cloth may be so attached that the slack is eliminated whereby the cloth is more or less taut.

It is an important feature of the invention that marginal portion 16 of cloth 13 is preferably so attached to marginal portion 17 of sponge 10 that surface 15 of the cloth is adjacent surface 12 of the sponge and marginal portion 18 of the cloth is preferably so attached to marginal portion 19 of the sponge that surface 14 of the cloth is adjacent surface 11 of the sponge. With this construction, the pad may be turned inside out, when desired, so as to expose the working surfaces 11, 14 instead of the working surfaces 12, 15 shown exposed in Figures 1 and 2 without changing the predetermined amount of slack, or tautness as the case may be, of the cloth.

As indicated in Figure 3, the pad may be constructed very easily by first stitching marginal portion 16 of the cloth to marginal portion 17 of the sponge. The cloth will then be swung about in the direction of the arrows until marginal portion 18 of the cloth is adjacent marginal portion 19 of the sponge whereupon these marginal portions may be stitched together to complete the assembly.

It will readily be apparent that since cloth 13 and sponge 10 each have two working surfaces, the useful life of the pad will be doubled over those pads having a total of only two working surfaces. Furthermore, since the portions of the sponge and the cloth intermediate respective marginal portions 16, 17, 18 and 19 are free of attachment with each other, a pocket is provided therebetween in which the user may, if desired, insert his hand or in which a bar of soap or the like may be positioned.

In View of the foregoing it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that I have accomplished at least the principal object of my invention and it will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiment herein described may be variously changed and modified, without departing from the spirit of the invention, and that the invention is capable of uses and has advantages not herein specifically described, hence it will be appreciated that the herein disclosed embodiment is illustrative only, and that my invention is not limited thereto.

I claim:

l. A device for use in household cleaning and the like, comprising a flexible sponge pad of rectangular shape, and a similarly shaped flexible sheet overlying one side of said pad, one end margin of said sheet being secured to one side of said pad adjacent to an end thereof and the other end margin of said sheet being formed around the opposite end of said pad and secured to the other side thereof adjacent to said opposite end, theA intermediate and side marginal portions Jf said sheet being free of attachment to said pal whereby said pad and sheet may be flexed and twisted inside out about their connections to reverse the relative disposition of the side surfaces of said pad and sheet.

2. The construction according to claim 1 wherein said 3 sheet has abrasive characteristics enabling oppositesdes thereof to be used l"for scouring and like purposes.

3. The `'iethod of forming 4a `reversible household cleaning pad, which method comprises securing a marginal end portion Iof la rectangular flexible sheet to one 5 side f a silr'lS/'shied"pgepad djlachfto ain e'cl of the latter, folding said sheet over said `pad end and over the'ppsit'e side f said 'pad and Lseauriilg 'the opposite `Afn'ar'lg'inalv 'clprtioh f'sa'id s'leeif m said'ppsite -pail'side'adj'a'ci'lt lt'o the opposite end f said bad.

Refereucesit'edlin thefiile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gray June 21, 1938 Horton Dec. 31, 1946 Hurst Feb. 5, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland June 3, 1952 

